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Formula 1 Belgian GP

2015 Belgian Grand Prix Saturday - Qualifying

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Stevens and Merhi had a tough little battle over 19th at the end, with the Brit taking it by a tenth and a half.
Bottas makes it through to fourth place, pushing Nasr outside the cut-off.
Despite his power less, Verstappen gets up to 13th, putting Sainz out. Then Sainz leaps to fourth and Bottas is down to 16th.
Ericsson made a late jump from 15th to ninth.
Alonso can't do any better than 18th, he's half a second off Button.
Button nips ahead of Verstappen's troubled Toro Rosso for 16th.
Quote
"There's something wrong," says Verstappen. He could be in trouble, he's just 16th fastest and in the drop zone.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out.
Further back:

11 Massa
12 Bottas
13 Sainz
14 Nasr
15 Ericsson
16 Verstappen
17 Button
18 Alonso
19 Merhi
20 Stevens
Order:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Perez
4 Vettel
5 Raikkonen
6 Grosjean
7 Kvyat
8 Hulkenberg
9 Maldonado
10 Ricciardo
Rosberg's lap puts him second, 0.015s off Hamilton.
Stopwatch
Hamilton keeps himself safe by going quickest, a tenth ahead of Perez.
Verstappen is currently the man in jeopardy in 16th.
Hamilton and Rosberg are setting 'purple' sector times even on mediums as they make sure of Q2 places.
Hamilton is now down to ninth, Rosberg sixth. Two minutes left, everyone bar Mercedes on softs.
Vettel has taken second between Perez and Raikkonen.
Hamilton has come back out, but he's stayed on mediums. He's now down to eighth...
Hulkenberg and Maldonado go fourth and fifth, which puts Hamilton down to sixth.
Raikkonen goes fastest of all, then is beaten by Perez by two tenths - both are running softs.
Quote
"Dany, we think the cutoff will be a 1m50.2," as Red Bull give Kvyat a hurry up. His best lap so far is a 1m50.829s.
It's surely going to be two McLarens and two Manors benched in the next three minutes, plus one other...
Another new fastest first sector time from a Force India, this time Perez.
Rosberg sticks with mediums as he sets off for another run.
A big dash for softs all round now, only Rosberg, Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen and the Manors are still on mediums.
Massa is now coming out and is using soft tyres.
Quote
Ferrari not feeling confident of clearing Q1 with those opening banker laps. The team informs Vettel that they will run again on the option.
The back:

11 Grosjean
12 Ricciardo
13 Raikkonen
14 Verstappen
15 Maldonado
16 Button
17 Alonso
18 Merhi
19 Stevens
20 Massa (no time)
Order:

1 Rosberg
2 Hamilton
3 Vettel
4 Bottas
5 Sainz
6 Nasr
7 Perez
8 Kvyat
9 Hulkenberg
10 Ericsson
Alonso does his first flying lap of the day and is only 17th, 0.4s behind Button.
Rosberg does a slightly better first sector but doesn't improve his lap overall.
Button is in a no man's land in 16th between Maldonado and the Manors. No times yet from Alonso or Massa, who is still in the garage.
Merhi and Stevens are the others trying softs already, but they're a long way adrift at the bottom.
Ericsson also uses softs but can only get to 10th with his.
Sainz puts Toro Rosso fifth but is one of very few running the softs, along with sixth-placed Nasr.
Decent start from Kvyat as he goes seventh for Red Bull.
Replays show Raikkonen running wide at Rivage, that'll explain his slow lap.
Vettel puts his Ferrari third, while Raikkonen's example is only 11th right now, a second slower.
Ricciardo goes eighth with his first flying lap.
Early order:

1 Rosberg
2 Hamilton
3 Bottas
4 Nasr
5 Perez
6 Hulkenberg
7 Grosjean
8 Hulkenberg
9 Verstappen
10 Maldonado
Nasr interrupts the Mercedes order by going fourth for Sauber-Ferrari.

By: AUTOSPORT staff

Published: